Silenced
by Karen1121
Summary: Piko wakes to find his best friend Ausgris has suffered a terrible accident. Will he be able to help? [Rated T for implied injury. TW: Brief mentions of blood, hospital setting.]


**A Quick Explanation:**

 **All of my writing is heavily influenced by my headcanons, and this work is no exception. Therefore, I think a brief explanation is necessary.**

 **First off, if you're wondering who Ausgris is, they're a potential Vocaloid currently being produced by VocaTone! Be sure to check out their beta demo!**

 **As for headcanons, I know that Ausgris is agender, but I headcanon them as male and will be using male pronouns in this story. I also headcanon Piko is a robot built by Ausgris to keep them company. Ausgris's missing limbs are canon (but the reason behind them is my own interpretation).**

 **Okay, that should be all you need to know to understand what's going on. I hope you enjoy~**

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With a flicker, the scene around him suddenly came into view. His eye darted around frantically, desperately trying to get his bearings. A sea of black gravel faced him. Muffled shouts pierced the air. The air was tinged with the smell of rubber, oil, and blood.

 _Blood._

The realization jolted him. He tried to stand, but one of his hands collapsed under his weight and he smacked the ground again.

Repositioning himself, he pushed himself to his knees with his good hand and sat up. A quick look around told him his right eye had failed. He touched the spot but felt only split wires instead. Looking down, he found his right arm dangling at the elbow by a couple of wires.

He gritted his teeth and looked around again. Twisted metal lay everywhere. A menacing semi-truck towered over him. He saw movement inside the truck; the driver must have just come to his senses.

From under the truck, a dark puddle was slowly pooling. The sight of it sent him jumping to his feet, and he rushed to the spot. Quickly, he shoved debris out of his path, head spinning. As he worked, a bloodied pair of boots became visible. He called out frantically, trying to block out thoughts of the worst.

"Ausgris!"

* * *

The next few hours flew by in a blur, and soon Piko found himself sitting in a cold, harshly-lit waiting room. The nurses had tried to reassure him, but he pushed them all away. He had seen what happened. He refused to allow himself false hope.

The minutes crawled by. Piko remembered he had grabbed Ausgris's glasses from the scene and pulled them out of his pocket. The lenses were cracked and smeared. He rubbed them gently and tried them on, but everything looked blurry and indistinct and threw his balance off. Piko set them down beside him.

Every sound seemed to set him on edge: the ticking of the small wall clock, the lapping drizzle of coffee from a man refilling his paper cup, the turning of magazine pages from the woman in the chair across from him. It seemed everything was set on antagonizing him.

Piko sighed and tried to occupy himself by counting the number of flower patterns on the wall, but he got bored at 743 and gave it up. _743_. A prime number. Prime numbers had always had a calming effect on him. He started trying to list the prime numbers from memory: _2, 3, 5, 7, 11…_

As he counted, Piko slowly adjusted the hair in front of his face to hide his damaged eye. The murmurs of the other waiting families and nurses didn't fail to reach his ears, nor the glances snuck from behind magazines and phones to catch his eye. He couldn't remember the last time he had been seen in public; it was extremely uncomfortable. Explaining himself to the nurses had been a nightmare.

 _They don't know any better,_ he told himself, but he wished Ausgris were by his side.

 _Ah, Ausgris!_ Piko could feel the cycle of worry starting over again. He tried desperately to brush it aside. Absent-mindedly, he picked up the glasses and turned them over and over in his hand.

 _13, 17, 19, 23, 29…_

Suddenly, the small creak of a door shattered his thoughts. He looked up slightly, watching the nurse to see whom she might approach. To his relief, she walked towards him while tensely shuffling some papers. Piko was sure that if he had a heart, it would have beat out of his chest by now.

 _31, 37, 41, 43, 47…_

"P-Piko?" the nurse asked clumsily upon reaching him.

He nodded. "Yes, that's me. How's—"

"He's stable," she answered quickly.

Piko breathed a sigh of relief. He fought the urge to jump out of his seat and run into the room. He looked down and realized he had been digging his fingers into his chair's arm rest. "Can I go see him?" Piko asked, trying to relax his grip.

"Not yet. Listen, there's something you need to know."

 _53, 59, 61, 67, 71…_

* * *

Piko anxiously followed another nurse down the winding maze of the hospital, trying to keep his pace steady and not break into a sprint. He studied the turns they made as they journeyed: a left, two rights, up a flight of stairs, another right, and finally a left.

The nurse stopped in front of a door in the recovery ward and Piko caught himself from walking into him. "Here we are," the nurse said.

The door opened and revealed a sparsely decorated room separated by a curtain. The first bed was empty, and the space felt unnervingly vacant. The light was soft, seeping in from a window at the end of the room. From the pale light, Piko realized that the sun was just starting to rise. What an exhausting night it had been. The nurse led Piko past the curtain and over to the second bed.

Piko froze when he reached the foot of the bed. The figure in it was covered almost completely by the sheets, but a bandaged head poked out of the top. Without his billowing coat, Ausgris looked so frail. The bed seemed to envelop his thin frame.

"Remember," the nurse broke Piko's thoughts, "he needs his rest. Just let him sleep." He paused, trying not to linger for too long for fear of being intrusive. "Call if you need anything," he said finally.

Piko nodded and watched the nurse exit the room, who was careful not to make any disruptive noises. The door closed behind him with a soft click.

In an instant, Piko felt very alone.

He stood paralyzed at the end of the bed, anxiously watching Ausgris's chest haltingly rise and fall. The room was too quiet; the only sounds were Ausgris's shaky breathing and low murmurs from some of the medical machines.

Piko numbly felt his way over to a chair beside the bed and plopped down, not daring to take his eye off Ausgris lest he suddenly vanish. Although it wasn't much, what Piko could see of Ausgris's condition made him sick. His face and neck were covered in scrapes, and most of his head was wrapped tightly in white bandages from which a faint red had seeped.

Piko took out the glasses from his pocket again and weighed them in his hand. Quietly, he placed them on the small bedside table as though Ausgris might wake up and put them on like any other morning.

Ausgris stirred slightly in his sleep, listlessly turning his head from the light. Piko got up and tried to close the curtains at the window, but the sliding track made a horrific grating noise. Piko hastily glanced over to see if Ausgris had woken, but he made no movement. Piko sighed slowly and resumed closing the curtains, wincing at every scraping sound.

Having finished, he took his seat by the bed and waited. And waited. The silence in the room was deafening.

As he sat, exhaustion crashed over him like a wave. He looked up, and his eye found a small clock on the wall which read 6:31. Piko realized it had been nearly twelve hours since he had last recharged; he was surprised he hadn't collapsed hours ago. Quickly, he scanned the room and located a nearby outlet.

"Guess we should both get some rest, huh?" he whispered to Ausgris, who didn't respond. Piko placed his chair next to the outlet and plugged in, feeling himself slip into charging mode. "See you later, Auggie," he yawned, and all was still.

* * *

With a start, Ausgris opened his eyes and inhaled sharply. Piko looked up from attempting to reattach his arm. He tested his fingers gingerly and scooted his chair closer to the bed. It was a makeshift fix, but his arm was functional again.

Ausgris had woken a few times throughout the day, but he had been in too much pain to be aware of his surroundings and had simply groaned and fallen back asleep.

This time, however, Ausgris was awake. Piko watched his eyes dart around the room, a small note of panic playing in his expression. The warm glow of sunset washed over the room, and Ausgris squinted in the low light. Piko waited for Ausgris to notice him, trying not to startle him. He smiled when he saw Ausgris's eyes rest on his face.

"Auggie!" Piko breathed softly.

Ausgris smiled weakly and coughed. He opened his mouth to speak, but Piko interrupted him. "Shh, don't try to talk yet."

Piko's words caught in his throat; he wanted to say everything at once. "Oh," he remembered, "I have your glasses." He picked them up from the table and gently placed them on Ausgris's face, careful to avoid his cuts. Ausgris blinked a few times, letting his eyes adjust. "Sorry they're broken, but they're better than nothing," Piko said.

"Are you—are you in pain?" he asked hesitantly.

Ausgris winced and tried to shake his head. Piko knew he was lying. With a great effort, Ausgris tried to sit up, but he fell back helplessly onto the pillows and coughed again.

"Take it easy," Piko suggested, stroking Ausgris's head and clearing his hair from his face. "Don't try to move too much."

Ausgris reluctantly settled back into the pillows, sighing. Piko watched him scan the room. Once again, Ausgris's eyes stopped on Piko, and his brow furrowed slightly. Weakly, he lifted his hand to point at Piko's face. He tried to speak but coughed instead.

Piko followed Ausgris's gesture to his damaged eye. "Oh, me? No, no, I'm fine," he lied. "It's just a scratch. Besides," he grinned, "mine are replaceable." Ausgris smiled back.

Suddenly, Ausgris's eyes widened in fear. He tried and failed again to sit up, but his movements were panicked.

"Auggie—" Piko began quickly, "Auggie, please listen! You need to stay still."

Ausgris refused to listen. Piko pressed him gently back onto the pillows until he gave up resisting. "Auggie," Piko swallowed, "there's something I need to tell you. But you have to promise to be calm."

 _2, 3, 5, 7, 11._

Ausgris stared at Piko, his eyes still wide.

"Can you do that?"

He nodded slowly, wincing.

Piko took his hand off Ausgris's head. "Auggie, we were in a wreck. A really bad one. The Harley was ripped to pieces."

He waited for this to sink in. Ausgris didn't move.

"The doctors say you're lucky to be alive," he continued quietly. "But you were really hurt. Really bad. They, um, they had to do some really drastic stuff to keep you alive."

Piko noticed Ausgris was holding his breath.

"Ausgris." Piko stared at the floor, not wanting to see his face. "They had to amputate your legs and your arm."

Ausgris let out a shuddering sob. He shook his head vigorously, screwing his eyes shut.

Hating himself, Piko pressed on. "Auggie, it's true. I know you're scared and you can't feel your toes. But that's why."

Ausgris tried yet again to sit up, but Piko caught him and gently lifted him up. As the sheets fell away, Piko could see the spot just below Ausgris's right shoulder where his arm had been removed, now a stump covered in thick, bloodied bandages. Piko watched as Ausgris looked down the bed, knowing he was trying desperately to find his feet. Ausgris's breath came in shaky sobs as he looked down at his shoulder and remaining hand.

Piko gently pulled Ausgris into a hug, trying not to hurt him. "Auggie, I'm—" he choked, "I'm so sorry—"

Ausgris buried his head in Piko's hair and sobbed, his shoulders shaking violently. Piko stroked Ausgris's hair. He felt absolutely powerless to help. Ausgris let out a groan that sounded somewhat like words, and Piko pulled Ausgris away to look at his face.

"What?"

Ausgris tried once again to speak, but all that came out were strangled sobs.

 _No, no, no,_ Piko panicked. "Hey, it's okay," he lied again. "Just try to calm down."

 _13, 17, 19, 23, 29._

Piko made a sound to simulate breathing inward. "In…" he instructed, "…and out. One… and two."

Ausgris copied him, and his breaths gradually became slower and more stable. _Please let this work,_ Piko silently pleaded, trying to disguise his alarm.

 _31, 37, 41, 43, 47._

"Now," he said finally, sitting back in the chair, "what were you trying to say?"

Ausgris took a deep breath and tried once again to speak, but it was too unintelligible. His eyes widened in fear again, but this time so did Piko's. Ausgris tried again and coughed. As he persisted, his coughs turned cries and then into sobs until he fell dejectedly back onto the pillows.

 _This can't be happening,_ Piko screamed silently. _You can't take all of this from him!_

"Listen," he said quickly, "the doctors told me that your throat got hurt, too. They said it might be sore for a while and it might hurt to breathe, but it'll get better. They really didn't know the scope of the damage yet. Maybe this is all just temporary."

Ausgris stared at the ceiling.

"Whatever it is, whatever it takes," Piko continued, holding Ausgris's hand tight, "we'll get through this together. You and me. Right, Auggie?"

Ausgris looked over at him, a small smile flickering across his face.

Piko pulled him into another hug, this time tighter than the last. "We'll get through this. You and me."


End file.
